A very gentle, very slow and endearingly brought out story of a family's struggle to cope with the sudden and untimely death of the mother, who seems like the thread or pivot that was holding the family together. It's about how they each find themselves again, weaving through varying complexities, and all within the five days from death to the funeral, and as exemplified by title.......life goes on.
In words of the Debutante Director Sangeeta Datta, it's an effort to capture the complexities underneath the surface gloss.
In words of the Debutante Director Sangeeta Datta, it's an effort to capture the complexities underneath the surface gloss.
An Indian family living in England, ....a rigid and patriarchal father, the loving and understanding mother, three daughters; one struggling with a failing marriage, one in a gay relationship, and the youngest, in love with, and pregnant from her (muslim) boyfriend. An Indian movie, in English.
After the death of the mother, the father seems to have no idea how to cope with his independent and wayward ( progressive??? ) children, and there's a best friend who is like an anchor, and an accepted part of family...... who's just always there, like an answer to everyone's problems. So much so, you later know he was also Manju Di's ( Sharmila Tagore's) anchor and lover too, and that the eldest daughter is actually his.
After the death of the mother, the father seems to have no idea how to cope with his independent and wayward ( progressive??? ) children, and there's a best friend who is like an anchor, and an accepted part of family...... who's just always there, like an answer to everyone's problems. So much so, you later know he was also Manju Di's ( Sharmila Tagore's) anchor and lover too, and that the eldest daughter is actually his.
Sharmila is the epitome of grace and beauty, though I wish they'd explored her character some more. We have Girish Karnad as the rigid father, Om Puri as best friend, Soha Ali Khan, Neerja Naik, and Mukulika Banarjee as Dia, Tulu and Lolita.
What it really brings out is how being rigid and full of yourself, can only break and distance in relationships. To nurture, you need to respect and accept. It has the backdrop of Tagore's poetry in music and Kahlil Gibran's thoughts on children from the Prophet.
If you're good with slow, like real real slow, it's a worthy watch.
If you're good with slow, like real real slow, it's a worthy watch.
Smitha thanks for this post. So many lovely movies get swept away unseen and unnoticed because they have no voice speaking for them.
ReplyDeleteWhen does a parent stop seeing from the child's perspective and start expecting from yhe child, an adult behaviour, that is expected of the parent at all times?
ReplyDeleteWhen children bexome adults and want respect and acceptance, when do the parents get to expect the same from them?
In the movie the children also were victim of their parents rigidity and fight to get themselves accepted by these parents as they are .
ReplyDeleteGenerally I have come across children who respect parents. Where it is felt that they are not respecting them, there is a need to go deeper and see the underlying issues in that relationship.
Vish, as adults, thinking adults, we yet know acceptance and no expectations as process, an aspirational goal. I'd think, give the kids (even if now adult) time, they are even more in process....
ReplyDelete